Australian interconnection services provider Megaport has announced that it is aiming to raise AU$60 million in equity in order to "deliver connectivity to a broader customer base outside of the current footprint".

Around AU$50 million will be raised via a placement to institutions, sophisticated, and professional investors by issuing 13,333,334 fully paid ordinary shares at AU$3.75 per share; and AU$10 million in a capital raising via a share purchase plan.

The equity will be used to bolster its Megaport Cloud Router (MCR) service, upgrading network capacity, accelerating expansion into new markets and locations, and to fund costs across staff, marketing, and operations.

"Megaport has received very strong interest in the placement from US institutional investors, culminating in commitments from three cornerstone investors who have agreed to subscribe for over AU$50 million of shares at AU$3.75 per share," the company said on Tuesday.

According to Megaport CEO Vincent English, these commitments have come from "some of the most respected sector-focused international institutions".

"Enabling our software-defined network in more markets that are currently underserved by cloud connectivity is critical to maximising our first-mover advantage," English said.

Megaport founder and chair Bevan Slattery will additionally be offering 6,666,667 shares to institutions, sophisticated, and professional investors at the same price, under a secondary offering.

Settlement of both the placement and secondary offering will take place on March 23, with the shares to be allocated on March 26.

The share purchase plan for shareholders in Australia and New Zealand, meanwhile, will allow eligible holders to apply for up to AU$15,000 worth of new shares at AU$3.75 per share between March 28 and April 13, with share allocation on April 20.

Megaport's virtual cloud router was launched in January, with the company at the time saying the product removes the need for customers to own or manage physical infrastructure and routers or have a datacentre presence.

The MCR enables customers to connect privately and transfer data and workloads between multiple cloud service providers across the globe in a more time- and cost-efficient way.

"By removing administrative and ownership complexities, MCR makes it easier for companies to connect to cloud services, expand their service footprint through virtual points of presence (PoPs), and peer with ecosystem partners around the world without the need to physically deploy network infrastructure," Megaport said at the time.

MCR provides Layer 3 routing and support, and utilises Border Gateway Protocol. By using Megaport's software-defined network (SDN), customers are able to connect to service providers and locations across the Megaport ecosystem via the company's Megaportal.

As of the end of Q1 in December, Megaport had 185 datacentres, up from 173 in Q2; 860 customers, up from 783; 2,259 ports, up from 2,064; and 5,041 services, including ports, Virtual Cross Connections (VXCs), and Internet Exchange (IX), up from 4,422 the previous quarter.

Datacentres in the Asia-Pacific region numbered 52 as of December, thanks to the addition of Hamilton; IBM Direct Link being enabled in Sydney and Melbourne; and adding new cloud onramps with AWS Direct Connect in Perth.

The Americas have 76 Megaport datacentres with the addition of Denver; IBM Direct Link being enabled in Dallas, San Jose, Toronto, and Ashburn; and adding new cloud onramps with AWS Direct Connect in Denver and Microsoft ExpressRoute in Denver.

In Europe, Megaport has 57 datacentres in total thanks to enabling IBM Direct Link in London, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt; and adding new cloud onramps with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure FastConnect in Frankfurt.

At the time, English said this makes Megaport the "leading network-as-a-service provider", adding that the company would continue its expansion throughout Q3.

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